We had parent teacher conferences this week.  We always try to set up the girls’ conferences back-to-back so there isn’t a lot of coming and going and waiting around.  This time around we didn’t get around to signing up for the meetings right away, but we were still able to get the conferences set up, one after the other.  After we received the confirmation emails, we realized that we would have too long to wait between picking up Audio and the conference with Audio’s teacher to stay at the school.  And, we realized that we would have too long to wait between the conference with Dee Dee’s teacher and the time that Dee Dee’s afterschool activity ended to wait for her at the school.  Not an ideal situation, but not a terrible one either. 

Ten minutes before the dismissal bell, my wife and I started walking towards the school.  We stood in the rain and waited for Audio.  When she came out, I was surprised to see her jacket zipped up.  At the start of the year, she just couldn’t zip her jacket.  Then, even after she’d practiced zipping it for a couple months, she would still come out of school with it unzipped.  When she’d meet me where I stand and wait for her, I’d zip her jacket for her, and then think up a reason why we weren’t able to go to the playground, unless we were.  Over the past couple weeks, it’s been unusually warm for January.  So, she’s been coming out of school with her jacket unzipped, if she was even wearing it.  I was happy to see that today’s slightly cooler and much wetter weather inspired her to prepare herself for the elements.  After we’d been home for a bit, I checked with her to see if she had zipped it herself or if someone helped her.  She confirmed that she had done it herself.  

After we were home, we took off our jackets and stuff and did things for about 15 minutes and then we put our jackets back on and Audio, her mom, and I walked back to school.  We had to pass Audio’s classroom window on our way to the front door.  We could see that Audio’s teacher was alone in the room, so we got her attention.  We were a little early, but she let us in through a side door, and we joined her in her classroom.  Audio showed us the classroom pets (fish) and I asked if at the end of the year if the class would take the pets fishing (bait).  We sat down on purposely wobbly benches.  They are like flattop Weeble Wobbles.  You really have to pay attention while sitting on them.     

Audio’s teacher told us that Audio is a nice kid who is always happy and gets along with her classmates.  Then she showed us some test scores and told us that audio is doing well academically.  Then I noticed that the teacher was looking over my shoulder.  I turned and saw that someone was standing outside the classroom door.  I only caught a glimpse of an elbow before it disappeared.  Audio’s teacher asked if Audio had any other questions as she stood up. Audio said that she didn’t have any questions, so my wife and I stood up, too, and we walked out to the hallway.  Audio saw a classmate and gave her a hug.  I saw the elbow.  It was attached to the classmate’s mother.  They had a box of muffins.  The girl, the mother, and her elbow brought the muffins into the classroom, and we walked towards Dee Dee’s room. 

Along the way, we stopped at the lost and found table.  Dee Dee is down somewhere between three to five gloves.  We didn’t find any of them.  But we did see what had to add up to one glove or mitten for every other kid in the school.  There were about seven individual shoes and one pair of shoes.  There were a few kids’ hats, as well as a few adults’ hats.  And a small, disposable diaper.  I think that between the three of us we touched everything on the table, but we left it all there. 

When we got to Dee Dee’s room, we had to wait for her classmate’s dad and the school social worker to finish up their conference with Dee Dee’s teacher.  The classmate was in the hall, waiting.  To make things less awkward, or maybe more awkward, I tried to strike up a conversation with the kid about a new mural that we had been advised had been painted somewhere in the school.  The kid didn’t think that there was any new mural.  I started to explain to the kid that a recent email that was sent out from the school said that the new mural would be ready for conferences.  But, before I could finish my thought, the social worker and the dad exited the room, and the kid followed them away from where we were standing.  As I watched them walk away, Dee Dee’s teacher invited us into the room. 

We know that Dee Dee, like Audio, likes school and is pretty smart. And we know that Dee Dee is a model student (listens, participates, asks questions) but it is still nice to hear it from her teacher. The teacher showed us some test scores and he told us about how much he enjoys having Dee Dee in the class. Having heard some of the stories that Dee Dee has told us about the other kids in the class, it isn’t hard to believe that anyone who the teacher doesn’t have to reprimand on an hourly basis would be welcome. The teacher said that Dee Dee can be pulled off task but is easily redirected. And, as far as staying on schedule, the teacher was soon thanking us for coming and walking us to the door. 

All in all, while we didn’t learn anything that we didn’t already know, or at least assume, it was a good couple of conferences. On our way out of the building, we found the new mural. It was blue and had some birds and words, but all three of us were busy focusing on Audio’s tricky zipper on her hooded sweatshirt, so I didn’t get a good look at it. It was a chilly walk home. After we got home, we took off our jackets and stuff, and sat down for a little bit. Then, my wife took her car over to the school to collect Dee Dee from her after-school activity and brought her home.